‣ Disclaimer
This article contains information that is for general information only and should not be used for the basis of making any decisions regarding education or anything else. It is solely the writer’s opinion of the writer’s experience of one open day at the school and the writer’s interactions with the people present on that day. The writer’s article is purely subjective. Facts and information may or may not be complete, accurate, reliable or valid reflection of the school in question.

I encourage you to personally tour the school and meet the educators and students, form your own opinion and leave a comment here.

Best of luck with your search for the perfect school!

Tour Details

“Tour” was an online webinar held on a Sunday afternoon EST

Webinar was hosted by Alexander Cork – Enrolment Officer at CGA

Webinar was a combination of slides, videos from some staff and live video calls with three students at the end of the presentation 

Questions were submitted in the chat at the end and answered by either the students or Alex

Crimson Global Academy overview

CGA (Crimson Global Academy) is an online high school offering a fully online high school experience for students in Australia and also around the globe.  CGA describe themselves as a private school with no physical campus and offers an alternative to the traditional bricks and mortar school.

The school only started three years ago and has grown exponentially from 26 students in 2020 to over 1000 students in 55 countries in 2023.  

According to their website, CGA’s mission is to “provide premium education without the constraints of physical schooling.”

Vibe of CGA

There seems like a culture of high ambition and high achievement at CGA.  The students who spoke at the webinar were living in Australia or New Zealand and at least two of them had aspirations of studying medicine in US or UK colleges.  

They mentioned that they enjoyed the online school because they were surrounded by like-minded individuals from countries around the globe – similarly high achieving and serious about their studies.

CGA offers an international curriculum and students take International GCSE and / or A-Level curriculum.  I understand this to be the equivalent of the International Baccalaureate or VCE – the usual qualifications Victorian schools offer.

It seems overseas universities more readily recognise these qualifications and many CGA students enter well known colleges in the UK and US.  There was a lot of promotion of students achieving placements at Ivy League and other well known universities and colleges such as Oxford and Cambridge.

CGA Classes are delivered live on video call with a teacher and also recorded for later viewing.  It is a CGA rule that students must have their video on.  The online format of school allows classes to be delivered without many of the inefficiencies of traditional school.  

As the classes are small sized ( numbers around 10-12 students per class were mentioned ) and online, there is less time wasted on behaviour management, travel and settling in.  CGA says that because the class sizes are small, there’s less chance of students “falling through the cracks”.

One of the main benefits mentioned was that academically ambitious students can take subjects at their level – CGA enrols by ability rather than age.

It also seems like students are very much encouraged to think about their careers after graduation during their time at school.  This future thinking seems to be instilled throughout their education at CGA.  

What kind of students choose CGA?

Because of the online format of the school and classes that can be delivered flexibly it suits many kinds of students and families 

  • Families who travel – those who move internationally or travel around the country
  • Students who are elite athletes, musicians, dancers etc who are achieving in other areas and don’t have time for normal classes
  • Academically ambitious students who need extension.  CGA offers classes according to ability rather than age 
  • Disengaged or struggling students who need extra attention 
  • Students who suffer from bullying and / or social anxiety who cannot attend school 
  • Students who have mobility issues or other health issues and have difficulty attending physical classes
  • Students who homeschool – there is no requirement for parental involvement in the online classes

Enrolment options

There is no waitlist for enrolments as CGA has the flexibility to expand as it grows.  Classes can be taken as full time or part time students.  

Secondary School

Part time is:

  • 1-2 subjects in conjunction with current school.  If students have busy after school schedules, they may choose to do the 1:1 Davinci program which offers more flexible classes 

Full time is: 

  • 3-4 subjects with CGA being the only school the student is enrolled in
  • Secondary subjects are offered starting from aged 12

Primary School

  • The IPrimary program is offered to students aged 8-11.  
  • IPrimary is part time only
  • Would be suitable for students interested in science or maths and need extension 
  • Or students who missed some learning during covid and are behind 

Careers counselling at CGA

There seems to be a strong culture of forward thinking and consideration of careers at CGA.  This is possibly because of CGA’s links with Crimson Education – a company that helps students gain entry to top universities around the world.  

Music and sport at CGA 

As the school is wholly online, they obviously cannot offer much in the way of music or sports.  The advice is to be involved with community sport and community music. 

Clubs 

There are some great online clubs to be a part of at CGA.  Alex said that the clubs are different from traditional schools clubs where the focus is often music or sport.  At CGA the clubs are more geared towards careers and include: 

  • Investment
  • Economics
  • Game Development 
  • Web Development 
  • Model UN Club
  • Volunteering 
  • Maths

Socialisation 

One of the main issues I imagine that CGA would need to address with families is “how to students learn to socialise”?  

They addressed this in the webinar providing several answers: 

  • The CGA learning platform has virtual “rooms” like hallway and library where students can “hang out” and chat 
  • Classes are very interactive and involve a lot of discussion
  • Students can join Slack communities.  Slack is an instant messaging platform
  • If they need pastoral care or tutorial support they can ask for sessions with teachers 
  • There is a newly implemented house system which encourages camaraderie and socialisation in smaller groups 
  • There are occasionally meetups and social days where students meet up in real life 
  • Students can join online clubs 

Beyond CGA, it’s recommended that children get involved with their local community sports clubs and music clubs for further real life socialisation. 

Pastoral care 

Pastoral care was addressed by Mark Phillips the Principal of CGA .  When students are frequently absent and / or are turning off camera during classes, there is a strong pastoral care team who work with families and students.  

The school deans can help student manage anxiety around homework or other issues and there is also a homework club to support students.  

“Back on track” detentions are supervised time to complete work.

Student comments / Case studies 

Student 1 

Student 1’s family moved from living in Malaysia.  She was attending international school in Malaysia.  When her family moved back to Australia she was enrolled in a private girls school but found herself to be unmotivated and bored.  

At CGA she is able to take accelerated classes and increased flexibility in timing and the subjects she takes.  She says she has more free time now.  She thinks it’s a pretty social online environment with her global peers with social aspects like Strava competition and assemblies as well as a lot of online messenging her peers. 

She’s the blue house captain.  She likes CGA because she think it’s a place of like minded, high achieving individuals. She says the teachers are caring and invested in students as people.  

Student 2 

Student 2 and her parents were on another video call and spoke of the incredible transformation in their daughter after she started at CGA.  

Student 2 was studying in an NZ high school and her parents found that she was disengaged with her mental health suffering.  They couldn’t homeschool her and thought of CGA as a “holding place” until they found a suitable solution.  Her mum said initially they thought they’d try CGA, but were a bit hesitant about the academic environment as they didn’t think their daughter was of the same calibre and previously didn’t have good work ethic.  

She said that they were surprised when she started achieving incredible results after starting at CGA.  Not only did her academics and work ethic improve, but her mental health recovered as well.  She now as aspirations to study medicine and physics in a US college.  

Her mother spoke emotionally about how they almost missed the opportunity to see how brilliant their daughter was had they not discovered CGA. 

Student 3 

Student 3 was studying in a local government school in NZ’s South Island.  However she had aspirations to go to university in the UK to study med at Oxford.  She found CGA via Facebook ads.  

She thinks the community and the curriculum at CGA is more suited to help her achieve her goals of getting into Oxford med.  She enjoys the flexible timing of the classes as well as the opportunity to advance when needed.  

From what I understand she still studies at the local high school in NZ taking their curriculum as well as three subjects at CGA and swimming outside of school.  She thinks the CGA curriculum is more advanced and has helped her local grades improve.  

Final words 

Crimson Globe Academy could be an exciting alternative to traditional schooling for some students.  As it is online, the school can cater for academically ambitious, high achieving students who don’t have time to muck around travelling.  It also seems to be geared towards students who want to head overseas to study in top universities around the world.  

According to CGA, the school also offers high quality education to other kinds of students – those who are disengaged, suffer from social anxiety or cannot attend local schools for other reasons.  For this reason, CGA could be an interesting alternative that families may not have previously considered.  

Although it seems there are a lot of academic benefits, as a parent, I would be a little cautious about kids being fully online from such a young age.  Being a fully digital for my work now, I know I made most of my best friends at a young age when I was forced to be around people in high school or university ( when university used to be in person lectures ).  

Given the choice, I probably would have chosen to be fully online from a young age too.  I love the benefits of efficiency and convenience, but I would have missed out on making some of my closest life long friends that I have today.  

Do you have any experience, questions or comments about this school? Let our community know and add a comment below. We’d love to hear from you!

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